JAKARTA — Indonesia will try to rally Southeast Asian nations meeting at the
United Nations this week behind a new attempt at talks with China to manage
territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
The meeting among members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be held on the sidelines of the
U.N. General Assembly, several weeks after the group's annual summit fractured
over host Cambodia's refusal to endorse a communiqué calling for a resolution
it said would embarrass ally China.
Indonesia's latest effort
appeared aimed primarily at restoring a semblance of Asean unity at a time that
the Philippines, in particular, is seeking stronger backing from its partners
against China, which has increased patrols near the Scarborough Shoal islets
off the Philippines' northwest coast. Tensions in the region are rising as
rival countries seek to enforce claims to areas believed rich in oil and gas.
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa
said in an interview Friday that Asean couldn't impose a solution over the
various South China Sea disputes, which have festered for years and also
include members Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
China has insisted that it wants
to resolve territorial conflicts—which extend farther north and include Taiwan
and Japan—on a bilateral basis. The Philippines and others have sought to
increase bargaining strength in the South China Sea disputes by negotiating en
bloc.
Indonesia has sought to revive
long-stalled negotiations over a code of conduct to act as a framework for disputes
pending a negotiated resolution. The sprawling archipelago nation doesn't claim
any of the contested areas and Mr. Natalegawa presented Jakarta as an honest
broker to get an agreement "finalized quickly."
"We see this as a very
serious problem and one that is demanding a solution by all of us,'' Mr.
Natalegawa said.
Mr. Natalegawa said that any
solution ultimately had to be reached by the individual countries.
"At the same time, there is
a place and a role for the regional countries to play to create a climate
conducive for negotiations" within "the basic maintenance of
stability and peace in the region. And that's what concerns us at the
moment," Mr. Natalegawa said.
The prospects for concrete
results from this week's side meeting at the U.N. were murky. A Malaysian
government spokesman said that Malaysia was committed to concluding a regional
code of conduct and "would consider and support any initiative to move
forward on this issue." Other foreign ministries didn't immediately respond
to requests for comment.
Longstanding claims by China,
Japan, Taiwan and South Korea over various islets have led to harsh words and
demonstrations in recent months, all as the U.S. has announced a "pivot''
in its defense and diplomatic posture toward Asia after a decade of being
focused on the Middle East and Afghanistan.
The shift has generally been
welcomed in Southeast Asia, which has viewed China's assertiveness with growing
alarm. Plans to deploy a permanent U.S. military contingent in northern
Australia, however, have been met with some initial wariness in Indonesia,
Australia's nearest northern neighbor. Mr. Natalegawa said increased U.S.
attention to the region needed to be "well-calibrated to reduce the
feeling of competition and tension in our region, and I think on the whole I
must say that we have been satisfied with that."
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